Moorish Idol feed. Sponge??

[naesco]

Wow it is a long time since I had heard of an lfs bringing in a Moorish Idol.
They die in LFS tanks because somehow even newbie reefers know they have no chance of success.

Yours has no chance of success despite the one post posted here.

Return it to the LFS for a full credit and politely comment to the lfs management that it is simply unethical to import them.

I believe those who own lfs or knowledgeable people who work there will agree with me 100%

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by naesco

Wow it is a long time since I had heard of an lfs bringing in a Moorish Idol.
They die in LFS tanks because somehow even newbie reefers know they have no chance of success.

Yours has no chance of success despite the one post posted here.

Return it to the LFS for a full credit and politely comment to the lfs management that it is simply unethical to import them.

I believe those who own lfs or knowledgeable people who work there will agree with me 100%

Haha Nice! I would bet most would actually disagree.

Hawaiian Moorish Idols can actually be fairly easy to keep, I would stay clear of Indo ones though. If it's eating already you're in fine shape. I don't really believe they need to eat sponge since many have kept them for years without. Pellets and Nori sounds like a good diet, you can soak them in various vitamins and additives for added nutrition.

I also had one for about a year in a fish only until I sold the tank, I experimented with corals and in my experience didn't work out so generally probably not reef safe.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by naesco

Wow it is a long time since I had heard of an lfs bringing in a Moorish Idol.
They die in LFS tanks because somehow even newbie reefers know they have no chance of success.

Yours has no chance of success despite the one post posted here.

Return it to the LFS for a full credit and politely comment to the lfs management that it is simply unethical to import them.

I believe those who own lfs or knowledgeable people who work there will agree with me 100%

I also disagree... I don`t promote keeping any fish that will most likely die, but if it can be done and done properly then all be it. Here in Calgary I know of a couple LFS that have them, sell them and are quite successful with Moorish Idols. The thing with the LFS I am speaking of, they will not sell the fish unless it is eating, so this is good, and they are quite successful at it. If you can get a Moorish Idol to eat pellets and other things, then the chances of survivol do increase.

If you want to look at it this way, then do any of us have the right to take wild caught fish or marine life from the wild? We have no right what so-ever, so if we are going to do it, at least try to do it right! Put it another way, if we were to take you and put you in a glass box, do we have that right, same goes for any living creature.

Funny, how we want to satisfy our own cravings and desires at the expense of others and other living things. Things that make you go HMMMMMM.....

[Haloreef]

Well I would also disagree. I know of two others who keep this fish and have had theirs for well over a year each. Maybe not a newbie fish, but hardly a, "no chance" fish.
Good luck with yours, beutifull fish.
Too many Parrots on this sight sometimes!
Keith.

[kien]

Originally Posted by naesco

Wow it is a long time since I had heard of an lfs bringing in a Moorish Idol.

that's because you don't live in Calgary A few LFS get them in all the time! In fact, there are a couple of LFS that have at least two or three in stock at the moment.

But yes, as others have stated, if you have your fish eating staple foods already then I think you're good to go! I wouldn't worry too much about the sponges.

[viperfish]

Also keep in mind that getting a Moorish Idol to eat is just one aspect of longevity. The tankmates, tank conditions, husbandry, and even flow in the tank all affect this very sensitive fish. I had one a few years ago and like most people it is no longer alive. I did have this guy eating mysis and even Nori from the clip and I thought I was home free but I couldn't be more mistaken. One thing I learned about these guys is the slightest change such as moving one rock, doing a water change, and basically anything outside the normal routine would stress the heck out of it and where most other fish would rebound quickly he would take days to regain his confidence. After one unsuccessful try which lasted a few months I decided as most have to never try to own one again. Fish stores will bring in anything that will sell and the only way to stop this is to stop buying these doomed species, the sad thing is this never seems to happen. I see LFS selling Nudibranchs that will die if they don't get a specific kind of sponge, electric scallops, stingrays, and the list goes on, it is very sad that they are viewed as revenue for the store and not as a species doomed to die. There are enough robust species to choose from in this hobby that there should be no need to bring home something that probably won't survive anyway.

[RD]

Kieron Dodds, from Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine wrote an article on the Moorish Idol in 2008, titled; "Still Impossible After All These Years - Keeping Moorish Idol". He clearly admits that the main intent of his article was to discourage anyone from acquiring this species, as he feels this species has almost no chance in being kept alive in captivity beyond a very short duration.

At one point in the article he states "Pablo Tepoot is perhaps the single individual who has had the most success with this species" - unfortunately Pablo (the creator of New Life Spectrum) lost his last group of Moorish Idol to an electrical failure during a hurricane, at that point he had kept them thriving in captivity for 5+ years.
Something that most people would have considered impossible 15 or 20 yrs ago.

Can they be kept healthy & thriving long term, absolutely.
Are there any guarantees with this species, absolutely not.
Of course the same could be said about many things in this hobby, but that's a far cry from classifying Moorish Idol as being doomed to die in captivity.

Feeding foods such as mysis & nori will definitely not meet this species nutrient demands,
these types of foods have been tried many times over the years, and always end up a failure. I'm not posting this in defense of keeping Moorish Idol in captivity, but for those that try, take a hint from Pablo Tepoot as to what to feed, because getting this species healthy diet wise, is the single most important part of the equation.

So to answer the OP's question, diet wise, for long term success there is nothing required beyond feeding a high quality pellet that will meet & exceed all of your fishes nutrient requirements. Choose that pellet food wisely, and you will have already made it past your largest hurdle in keeping this species thriving in captivity.

Best of luck with your new MI.

[albert_dao]

For the record, this is RD's original post to the OP.

Originally Posted by RD

Kieron Dodds, from Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine wrote an article on the Moorish Idol in 2008, titled; "Still Impossible After All These Years - Keeping Moorish Idol". He clearly admits that the main intent of his article was to discourage anyone from acquiring this species, as he feels this species has almost no chance in being kept alive in captivity beyond a very short duration.

At one point in the article he states "Pablo Tepoot is perhaps the single individual who has had the most success with this species" - unfortunately Pablo (the creator of New Life Spectrum) lost his last group of Moorish Idol to an electrical failure during a hurricane, at that point he had kept them thriving in captivity for 5+ years.
Something that most people would have considered impossible 15 or 20 yrs ago.

Can they be kept healthy & thriving long term, absolutely.
Are there any guarantees with this species, absolutely not.
Of course the same could be said about many things in this hobby, but that's a far cry from classifying Moorish Idol as being doomed to die in captivity.

Feeding foods such as mysis & nori will definitely not meet this species nutrient demands,
these types of foods have been tried many times over the years, and always end up a failure. I'm not posting this in defense of keeping Moorish Idol in captivity, but for those that try, take a hint from Pablo Tepoot as to what to feed, because getting this species healthy diet wise, is the single most important part of the equation.

So to answer the OP's question, diet wise, for long term success there is nothing required beyond feeding a high quality pellet that will meet & exceed all of your fishes nutrient requirements. Choose that pellet food wisely, and you will have already made it past your largest hurdle in keeping this species thriving in captivity.

Best of luck with your new MI.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

Also keep in mind that getting a Moorish Idol to eat is just one aspect of longevity. The tankmates, tank conditions, husbandry, and even flow in the tank all affect this very sensitive fish. I had one a few years ago and like most people it is no longer alive. I did have this guy eating mysis and even Nori from the clip and I thought I was home free but I couldn't be more mistaken. One thing I learned about these guys is the slightest change such as moving one rock, doing a water change, and basically anything outside the normal routine would stress the heck out of it and where most other fish would rebound quickly he would take days to regain his confidence. After one unsuccessful try which lasted a few months I decided as most have to never try to own one again.

This is what I didn't understand about MI's. I always thought if you could fine one that eats you'd be good to go. However what I didn't know is not only do you need one that's eating well you need to keep only peaceful tankmates with it and you can't have your hands in and out of the tank moving things around in it, because doing so can easily stress MI's and kill them. Impossible IMO no, worth it to try knowing how much of a PITA it is to keep them stress free and alive, IMO no.

I love MI's and I tried one once (that had been alive for 5 months and ate mysis) however from the trip back home (got it in Calgary) it got stressed and got a bit of ich on it, that and with my with my other fish harassing it a bit, it got stressed out and died a few days later. I will not try another one unless I am committed to having a tank set up strictly for one. Established FOWLR tank with a sump for doing water changes in, and the MI being the 1st fish in and any tankmate that looks at it the wrong way would be removed immediately.

To answer your question from what I understand sponge is a main part of their diet in the wild, that being said I don't know if the need it to live long term in captivity, or not but why risk it? I would buy sponge (I have seen sponge for sale at lfs) and add it to your tank, because it can only help not hurt having it.

[viperfish]

Bob Fenner highly recommends the New Life Spectrum Pellets for successfully feeding MI's. Apparently there isn't a particular ingredient identified that sets it apart from the other foods but I guess by trial and error this food seems to work ( I hope they didn't try too many brands before they hit the right one).